Written Answers

Thursday 15 June 2000

Scottish Executive

Caledonian MacBrayne

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action will be taken to ensure that the Board of Caledonian MacBrayne accurately reflects the communities that it serves.

Sarah Boyack: Up to two vacancies in respect of Non-Executive Directors of Caledonian MacBrayne were advertised earlier this year. The criteria for the posts include one, categorised as highly desirable, relating to an interest in, or local knowledge of, Highlands and Islands issues. Candidates for the current vacancies are being assessed against this and the other criteria for the post(s). An announcement on the outcome of the recruitment process will be made soon.

Citizens Advice Bureau

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to give additional funding to branches of the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Jackie Baillie: Decisions on support funding for Citizens Advice Bureaux are for local authorities to make in light of their assessment of local needs and priorities.

Climate Change Levy

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had regarding the impact of the proposed climate change levy in Scotland.

Henry McLeish: The climate change levy is a reserved matter. The Scottish Executive is engaged in an ongoing dialogue with the private and public sectors and has conveyed concerns, expressed by these sectors about the levy’s impact in Scotland, to HM Government.

Culture

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to provide free admission to galleries and museums for those aged 60 years and over.

Rhona Brankin: The National Galleries of Scotland do not charge for admission to their permanent exhibitions. The Scottish Executive’s financial plans for future years include provision for £2 million a year to enable the Board of Trustees of the National Museums of Scotland to abolish admission charges from April 2001.

  By statute, admission to local authority museums and galleries is free of charge.

Dental Care

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to achieve the target of 60% of five-year-olds with no experience of dental disease by 2010.

Susan Deacon: A number of measures are already in place to improve the oral health of children. These include the payment of enhanced capitation fees to dentists for children in deprived areas who are registered with them on the NHS. Oral health promotion programmes are also in place in all health board areas and cover a diverse range of programmes including dental registration from birth, nursery toothbrushing schemes and dietary advice. In addition the Scottish Dental Access Initiative offers grants to NHS dentists setting up or expanding their practices in areas of high oral health need and unmet patient demand.

Diabetes

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will identify the estimated 87,000 Scottish people currently living undiagnosed with diabetes.

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what proposals it has for early identification of people with diabetes.

Susan Deacon: The UK National Screening Committee, an expert advisory body to all the UK Health Departments, is currently developing a programme of screening for diabetic retinopathy. The committee is considering actively how it might be possible to identify "at risk" groups for further targeted screening.

Diabetes

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any awareness raising programmes are in place to target the "at risk" groups in Scotland with regard to diabetes.

Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive Health Department’s Clinical Resource and Audit Group has set up a Working Group on Information Technology to Support Shared Care in Diabetes. The purpose of this group is to develop work already done on diabetes registers and information technology, with a focus on the information required by doctors and other health professionals to directly support their clinical practice. This will raise awareness of diabetes among clinicians, which will enable them to provide improved information to their patients.

Diabetes

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what proposals it has to ensure that diabetes services are co-ordinated at health board level.

Susan Deacon: It is for health boards to plan and deliver services which meet the needs of their local population, within the resources allocated to them, taking account of national and local priorities. Priorities and Planning Guidance for the period 1999-2002, issued by the Scottish Executive Health Department to health boards, asked health boards and NHS Trusts to review their diabetes services to ensure that the NHS in Scotland meets the targets set out in the WHO St Vincent Declaration.

Diabetes

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what proposals it has to direct NHS resources to the prevention, diagnosis and management of diabetes in order to avoid the life threatening complications which can result from diabetes.

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any new plans are in place to support people diagnosed with diabetes in Scotland, given the increasing numbers of diabetes sufferers.

Susan Deacon: There are a substantial number of diabetes-related Scottish Executive projects in hand, in addition to the Working Group on Information Technology to Support Shared Care in Diabetes and the Priorities and Planning Guidance which I mentioned in my reply to question S1W-7459.

  Committed expenditure of £25,000 to pilot a Scottish Diabetes Survey.

  Committed expenditure of more than £200,000 to fund three Diabetes IT System Demonstrator Sites in Tayside, Grampian and Lanarkshire, which will show how IT can support clinicians and improve care to diabetic patients.

  Given a grant of £214,000 to a two-year project which started in January 1999 extending the Diabetes Audit and Research in Tayside Scotland (DARTS) project - "The clinical effectiveness of diabetes care in Scotland: Use of innovative IT designed to implement the SIGN guidelines and St Vincent Declaration".

  Funded a three-year Royal College of General Practitioners programme to promote quality and clinical effectiveness in practice-based primary care.

  Funded a Clinical Network involving diabetes services in Tayside, Forth Valley and Fife, under the Children’s Innovation Fund.

  Are funding five projects connected with diabetes at a total cost of some £571,000, through SEHD’s Chief Scientist Office.

Education

Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what it intends to do to support the work of the Scottish Council for Research in Education.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Executive have agreed a service level agreement with the Scottish Council for Research in Education for research and related services on behalf of the Executive until 31 March 2003.

Education

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how it is monitoring the progress of the new Higher Still exams and any teachers’ concerns about them.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Officials regularly meet with the Scottish Qualifications Authority to discuss Higher Still and examination issues generally. The new exams and their results will be included in the review of the first year of Higher Still implementation.

Education

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to support pupils who had performed well in continuous assessments but were unable to complete the Higher Still Higher maths examination.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Assessment, which includes the setting and marking of examinations, is within the remit of the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

  I understand that an appeals procedure is in place to deal with any cases in which candidates fail to perform to their expected ability as set out in the estimated grades submitted for each candidate by centres. Results can be upgraded at two points in time. First there is an automatic appeal procedure carried out prior to the issue of results, where results will be adjusted if a centre’s estimates of expected grades are generally accurate. Second, a candidate’s centre can submit a formal appeal after the results have been published.

  In the event of a formal appeal the Scottish Qualifications Authority will require centres to provide evidence of a candidate’s ability before upgrading an award. Centres would have to submit a medical or other admissible reason for absence from an exam. Internal Assessment results may be submitted by the centre as part of this evidence.

Education

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will address any problems encountered by school pupils sitting the Higher Still Higher maths examination.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Assessment and the content of examinations is within the remit of the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

  I understand that Ron Tuck, Chief Executive of the Authority, is replying to all letters expressing concerns about the Higher Still maths exam. The Executive is concerned that any issues expressed by pupils, parents and others are addressed.

Education

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what will be done to support pupils who fail to obtain the passes they need for college and university on the basis of being unable to achieve a pass in Higher Still Higher maths.

Mr Sam Galbraith: I refer Mary Scanlon to the answer I gave to question S1W-7476 earlier today.

Employment

Mike Watson (Glasgow Cathcart) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff are employed in the 59 call centres in Glasgow; how many of these are (a) full-time and (b) part-time workers and how many are (i) male and (ii) female in both the full-time and part-time categories.

Henry McLeish: In June 1999, Glasgow had 10,330 employees working in 65 call centres. However, there are no details available about the number of male or female employees, and the number of full/part-time workers.

  In December 1997, a Scottish Call Centre Study was published by the University of Strathclyde and University of Stirling. This showed around two-thirds of the people employed in Scottish call centres (65.5%) are full-time employees and one-third (34.5%) are part-time employees.

  This report also showed overall Scottish call centre workforce is composed of 32.6% men and 67.4% women. Men are more likely to work full-time than women, 75% as opposed to 63.6%. Accordingly, women were more likely to be part-time than men, 36.4% as against 25%.

  A copy of this report is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Employment

Mike Watson (Glasgow Cathcart) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average (a) wage and (b) period of employment is of full-time workers in Glasgow call centres.

Mike Watson (Glasgow Cathcart) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the average hourly rates paid to part-time and full-time workers in Glasgow call centres differ.

Henry McLeish: The information requested on earnings of call centre workers in Glasgow is not held centrally. For more details, I refer Mike Watson to the answer I gave to question S1W-7520.

Enterprise

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to assist Buchan and the wider economy in the North East of Scotland in the light of recent decisions such as the downgrading of RAF Buchan.

Henry McLeish: We take very seriously the need to respond positively in the face of the decision to commence a rundown of activity at RAF Buchan, which is due to take place over the next four years. We will be working closely with Scottish Enterprise Grampian and the Aberdeenshire Council in identifying measures which can respond to the rundown and in helping the local community deal with the economic impact of the decision.

Enterprise

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints have been made to the External Complaints Adjudicator in respect of (a) Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), (b) each local enterprise company contracted to HIE, (c) Scottish Enterprise, and (d) each local enterprise company contracted to Scottish Enterprise, specifying in each case the number of complaints which were upheld, the number rejected, and the number rejected because they were submitted late; whether the External Complaints Adjudicator has the power to order payment of compensation; if not, whether it plans to provide such powers either to the External Complaints Adjudicator or a new Ombudsman, and, if it has such plans, how compensation should be assessed.

Henry McLeish: In 1999-2000 the External Adjudicators for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, investigated the following complaints against the Enterprise Networks:

  (a) One against Highlands and Islands Enterprise which was rejected.

  (b) One against Western Isles Enterprise which was rejected.

  (c) None against Scottish Enterprise.

  (d) One against Scottish Enterprise Grampian which was rejected and one against Scottish Enterprise Glasgow which is ongoing.

  None of those rejected were done so as a result of late submission.

  The External Adjudicators’ terms of reference empower them to make recommendations for appropriate action where the complaint is upheld and this could include financial compensation. They do not have powers to order it. There are no current plans to change these powers or to establish a new Ombudsman.

  The Scottish Executive proposes to consult on the role of public sector Ombudsmen in the autumn.

Environment

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4654 by Sarah Boyack on 30 May 2000, what the annual cost is of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s comprehensive programme of monitoring environmental radioactivity.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s environmental radioactivity monitoring programme is carried out under contract by the National Radiological Protection Board. The current contract which commenced in April 2000 runs for three years, with a possible extension for a further two years.

  The programme includes monitoring of environmental samples collected around nuclear licensed sites in Scotland, together with monitoring of environmental samples and foodstuffs collected from locations remote from nuclear licensed sites. The monitoring around nuclear licensed sites accounts for 80% of the programme and the costs associated with this are recovered from the nuclear site operators.

  The value of the programme over the next three years is given in the table below.

  


Financial 
Year 


Value 
(£) 




2000-01 


330,300 




2001-02 


340,200 




2002-03 


350,400

Health

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what actions it intends to take regarding women who have received soya breast implants and are now perceived to be at risk.

Susan Deacon: I refer the member to the answer to question S1W-7723.

Health

Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to introduce licensing under section 44 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 of body piercers or premises which are engaged in tattooing, piercing and modification procedures.

Susan Deacon: I refer to my answer to question S1W-6880.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to hold teaching hospitals to account for Additional Cost of Teaching expenditure and, if so, whether the information provided will be made publicly available.

Susan Deacon: Teaching NHS Trusts must account for all their expenditure, including the Additional Cost of Teaching expenditure. Each Trust produces an annual report and accounts, both of which are published.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive why departments of general practice have to produce details of expenditure on their Additional Cost of Teaching budgets when similar accounting procedures do not apply in teaching hospitals.

Susan Deacon: Health boards and NHS Trusts have to account for all their expenditure. The level of information required from University Departments of General Practice in connection with their expenditure from health boards Additional Cost of Teaching budgets is for local agreement.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the 5% of Additional Cost of Teaching money allocated is adequate to fund the 10–12% of undergraduate teaching now conducted in general practice.

Susan Deacon: The level of funding provided for general practice under-graduate teaching is for negotiation between the relevant health board, NHS Trusts and University.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what recommendations it will make to acute hospitals about how to achieve efficiency savings whilst also aiming to achieve government targets.

Susan Deacon: The Executive expects all NHS Trusts to achieve national targets while taking account of local circumstances. The additional resources made available by the Executive, together with local efficiency improvements, are sufficient for the NHS to meet the costs of service developments and pay and price increases.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to reduce the proportion of adult men and women exceeding the weekly recommended limits for alcohol consumption from 33% to 29% and 13% to 11% respectively by 2010.

Susan Deacon: Headline targets to achieve these reductions were established in the White Paper, Towards a Healthier Scotland.  The White Paper, which is available in SPICe, also announced that a new national committee would develop a national strategic framework to tackle alcohol misuse in Scotland. The Scottish Advisory Committee on Alcohol Misuse, established in April 1999 has developed a draft Action Plan which identifies action in four main areas to lay firm foundations for an effective strategy. These are information collection; prevention and health promotion; service provision and co-ordination.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what support is given in NHS hospital maternity units to mothers experiencing difficulties in breastfeeding.

Susan Deacon: 29 out of Scotland’s 32 maternity hospitals participate in the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative with a further two planning to do so in the future. The initiative requires participating hospitals to implement 10 steps to successful breastfeeding. The 10 steps are evidence-based good practice standards and are part of a global initiative to enable mothers to breastfeed successfully. The initiative requires hospitals to have a written policy to ensure that staff receive training to enable them to implement that policy.

  Six of these hospitals have received the Baby Friendly Initiative UK Award and a number of other units have been awarded the Certificate of Commitment that acknowledges the units’ progress in implementing some of the steps and also commits the hospital to working towards full assessment within two years.

  In addition the remit of the national breastfeeding advisor is to assist towards achieving breastfeeding targets, provide advice, training resources and support to NHS personnel and lay workers, to act as a facilitator to local Joint Breastfeeding Initiatives and to report and make recommendations to the Scottish Breastfeeding Group.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether doctors will have a right of access to information regarding their own practice or performance in cases of professional misconduct.

Susan Deacon: The General Medical Council (GMC) is responsible for considering allegations of professional misconduct against doctors.

  Doctors at present have the right and will continue to have the right of access to information regarding their own practice or performance in such cases.

Health

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what palliative care services are currently offered to terminally ill patients who are being cared for at home, within each health board area.

Susan Deacon: Primary Health Care Teams play a key role in caring for patients and families and their carers in the community, providing medical, nursing and pharmaceutical services, mobilising social work input and arranging referral to other services including specialist palliative care. Specialist services in the community are provided by Macmillan Nurses, Marie Curie Palliative Care Nurses and hospice home care nurses. Specialist palliative medicine physicians also frequently make domiciliary visits at the request of the General Practitioner. Marie Curie Community Nurses provide regular nursing care to patients at home, particularly night nursing, and give respite and support to relatives and carers. The involvement of these teams with the Primary Health Care Team enables some patients to stay at home if that is their wish.

  Detailed information about services provided in each health board area is not available centrally.

Health

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of specialist palliative care services are used by patients with terminal conditions other than cancer.

Susan Deacon: Specialist palliative care services are provided in Scotland by voluntary hospices, by NHS Specialist Palliative Care Units and by Hospital Specialist Palliative Care Teams. The majority of patients receiving specialist palliative care require it because of complex problems arising from cancer. Hospices and NHS specialist palliative care services also care for people with other progressive conditions such as motor neurone disease.

  Statistics on the proportion of patients with terminal conditions other than cancer who are in receipt of palliative care are not available centrally.

Health

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Greater Glasgow Health Board is satisfied that it has completed delivery of the Acute Services Review leaflet to every household in the board’s area.

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation the Greater Glasgow Health Board is undertaking with the local Yorkhill community council, school, and housing association, as well as with Glasgow parents’ organisations, in the review of Yorkhill NHS Trust as part of the Acute Services Review.

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the traffic and travel implications of moving children’s services from Yorkhill to the Southern General Hospital have been fully considered by the Greater Glasgow Health Board in its Acute Services Review, particularly in relation to the likelihood of the Clyde Tunnel being closed at any time.

Susan Deacon: This is a matter for Greater Glasgow Health Board.

  I have, however, made it clear that before taking decisions affecting local communities, it is essential that those providing the services enter into full and meaningful consultation involving all stakeholders.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to support the increasing number of hepatitis C victims.

Susan Deacon: It is the responsibility of health boards to assess local needs for patients with hepatitis C and arrange provision of appropriate support, treatment and care services.

  In 1999, The Scottish Office commissioned the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme to establish a working group to consider all aspects of hepatitis C including epidemiology, prevention, investigations and treatment and to estimate future implications for the Scottish population and for service needs.

  It is expected that the report will be published in the summer, when the Executive will give its conclusions urgent consideration.

Housing

Mike Watson (Glasgow Cathcart) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what implications the requirements of asylum seekers placed with local authorities in Scotland will have for the housing stock transfer proposals.

Mr Frank McAveety: Arrangements to accommodate asylum seekers should have no adverse implications for housing stock transfer proposals. Following a transfer, it will be open to the National Asylum Support Service to arrange accommodation with Registered Social Landlords or other housing providers in an area.

Housing

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what conclusions it has reached following its consultation on the papers Housing and Anti-Social Behaviour – The Way Forward and A New Single Tenancy for Scotland: Rights, Obligations and Opportunities.

Ms Wendy Alexander: I indicated earlier this week that we will set out our plans for forthcoming legislation in early July and this will represent the most comprehensive review of housing policy in decades. Our plans for legislation will build on ideas presented in December. In the area of anti-social behaviour we propose to introduce probationary tenancies for anti-social tenants as well as make it easier for nuisance neighbours to be moved from the community.

  We will legislate to introduce a common set of enhanced statutory rights (a new secure tenancy) for all tenants of social landlords. The new tenancy will build on the current secure model with new rights to succession, for example, for carers and new rights requiring landlords to consult tenants about plans for their homes enshrined in legislation. We will also enable additional rights to be provided on a contractual basis. We have also received a wide range of views on our proposals for modernising the right to buy in Scotland as part of these new tenancy arrangements. The main volume of comment has been in relation to three areas: the potential effect of our proposal if it was applied retrospectively to housing association assured tenants; the ineffectiveness of the current exemption to meet the needs of pressured areas, and the future operation of discounts for new tenants. We have responded to each of these concerns directly in our proposals for a modernised right to buy.

  Our conclusion is that the right to buy with its existing terms and conditions should remain unaltered for all current tenants who have this right. However, the right to buy for new tenancies should be modernised to strike a better balance between the interests of the individual, the landlord and the community as a whole.

  New tenants will become eligible to exercise the right to buy after five years as compared to the two-year period required under the current arrangements. In addition, a new unified discount structure for houses and flats will be introduced so that tenants will receive a 20% discount after the initial five year qualifying period, increasing by 2% per annum to a maximum 50% after 15 years and be capped at £20,000.

  With respect to pressured areas, councils will be able to apply for a designation where there are particular difficulties in meeting the demand for socially rented housing. In these areas, the right to buy could be suspended for all new and re-let council and housing association tenancies for a specific period with the possibility of extension if pressures are not eased. We also intend to enable social landlords operating in these designated areas to offer tenants financial assistance towards the purchase of a house on the open market.

  The current exemption from right to buy for charitable housing association will continue and we will extend the existing exemption for sheltered housing to cover all group housing provided for persons with particular needs.

  With regard to retrospection, we have considered carefully the position of assured tenants of non-charitable housing associations that do not currently have a right to buy. We wish these tenants also to benefit from the new single social tenancy and, over time, from the modernised right to buy. Concerns have been expressed that the introduction of the new modernised right to buy could threaten the financial viability of some landlords. So, individual housing associations can choose to bring particular properties within the scope of the modernised right to buy if they so wish, but if there are concerns about financial viability properties can remain exempt for up to 10 years.

  We plan to make some general changes, which will affect both existing and new tenants. We propose to suspend eligibility for the right to buy from any tenants with arrears of rent and council tax and where legal proceedings are under way against tenants on the grounds of anti-social behaviour. We will also end the obligation on local authorities and Scottish Homes to act as lender of last resort to right to buy purchasers who are unable to obtain mortgage finance from other sources.

  Further details on all aspects of our housing legislative plans will be published in the forthcoming consultation paper on the Housing Bill. I will also be lodging an information paper on the single social tenancy proposals with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre shortly. This will set out the factual and analytical information that has informed our policy in this area.

Justice

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to make financial assistance available to families of murder victims who may face high costs on attending murder trials.

Angus MacKay: The Executive has received no representations on this matter and has no such plans at present.

Ministerial Correspondence

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is normal practice for ministers to reply to correspondence from their own constituents.

Mr Tom McCabe: Ministers will normally reply direct to correspondence from their own constituents where the subject matter of the correspondence falls within their ministerial portfolio.

Ministerial Correspondence

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4192 by Donald Dewar on 13 April 2000, whether it will provide a breakdown for the First Minister’s office of its performance in relation to targets for replying to correspondence from MPs or MSPs for the period 1 November 1999 to 31 January 2000.

Mr Tom McCabe: Between 1 November 1999 and 31 January 2000, the First Minister’s Office replied to 64% of correspondence (36 letters) within the target of 17 days.

  The volume and rate at which Ministers receive correspondence continues to increase. In the first nine months since devolution, the number of letters for ministerial reply increased by over 50% compared with the same pre-devolution period. Comparing the last quarter measured, January to end-March 2000 with the same period in 1999 shows an 82% increase.

NHS Funding

Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the £17 million announced on 1 June 2000 for the modernisation of GP surgeries and health centres is from the same modernisation fund referred to on 24 April 2000, 24 February 2000, 26 February 1999, 18 November 1998, 9 December 1998 and originally outlined on 16 July 1998.

Susan Deacon: As explained in the announcement, the £17.4 million now allocated amongst 31 specific projects on 1 June 2000 comes from the second phase of the Primary and Community Care Premises Modernisation Programme. Bids against £12 million were invited on 24 February 2000, but funding available has now been increased to accommodate more projects.

  Following the invitation (announced on 9 December 1998) to bid against £12 million for the first phase of this programme, details of a total of 44 successful individual projects to an increased total value of £15.5 million were announced on 26 February 1999.

  These projects realise part of the £1.8 billion investment programme announced by the then Secretary of State on 16 July 1998 and confirmed by the then Minister for Health on 18 November 1998.

  The total funds allocated against these two phases of this programme therefore stands at £33 million with 71 different projects supported across Scotland.

  There was no announcement on 24 April 2000 relating to the funding of this programme.

Police

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, in view of the alleged increase in harassment and hate crimes experienced by the lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) communities during the Keep the Clause advertising campaign, which Scottish police forces have appointed community gay liaison officers and LGB staff contact officers; who these officers are; how they can be contacted, and what their duties are.

Mr Jim Wallace: This information is not held centrally. Police forces liaise with all the communities they serve and the arrangements for links between forces and specific groups are matters for Chief Constables.

Rape

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the closure of the Rape Crisis Centre in Perth would have on the local community.

Jackie Baillie: The Scottish Executive recognises the very valuable work carried out by the nine Rape Crisis Centres in Scotland.

  We have recently invited the Rape Crisis Network to submit late bids for the Domestic Abuse Service Development Fund and have so far approved £3,000 for a project in Dumfries and Galloway and £12,500 for Central Rape Crisis. We are awaiting at least three more applications from local groups but these do not include the Perth group.

  Funding for local groups such as these is a local authority matter.

Rape

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the closure of the Rape Crisis Centre in Aberdeen would have on the local community.

Jackie Baillie: The Scottish Executive recognises the very valuable work carried out by the nine Rape Crisis Centres in Scotland.

  We have recently invited the Rape Crisis Network to submit late bids for the Domestic Abuse Service Development Fund and have so far approved £3,000 for a project in Dumfries and Galloway and £12,500 for Central Rape Crisis. We are awaiting at least three more applications from local groups but these do not include the Aberdeen group.

  The Scottish Executive does not provide core funding for local groups which is regarded as a matter for local authorities.

Rape

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make immediate funds available to the Glasgow Rape Crisis Centre and in particular in relation to its current court action regarding the Mike Tyson fight.

Jackie Baillie: Public funding of local groups is a matter for local authorities. It would not be appropriate for the Scottish Executive to provide funding in these circumstances and no application has been made.

Road Safety

Mr Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what its policies are on the promotion of road safety.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive and the UK Government recently announced targets for road accident casualty reductions in the period to 2010. The targets, together with a strategy for achieving them, were published on 1 March in the document Tomorrow’s Roads – Safer for Everyone . Copies are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Roads

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Transport and the Environment last visited Moffat and what road issues she discussed with local residents.

Sarah Boyack: I last visited Moffat on 10 June when I attended the first meeting of the Southern Upland Partnership. In the margins of that meeting I had a number of informal discussions with local residents on roads issues and have agreed that my officials should meet locals to discuss the issue of tourist signing for Moffat.

Roads

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many vehicles use each of (a) the five busiest single carriageway trunk roads and (b) the five least busy dual carriageway trunk roads in Scotland each day and what percentage of such vehicles are (i) heavy goods vehicles and (ii) through traffic.

Sarah Boyack: Information in the form requested is not readily available, as many trunk roads are a combination of dual and single carriageway sections and traffic flow and road standard along the route varies. It is therefore difficult to define either the busiest or least busy road. The A9, for example, (a mixture of dual and single carriageway) has flows that vary from just over 1,000 to over 29,000 vehicles per day.

Roads

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, given its cost benefit ratio of 24.49, positive net present value of £188.4 million against a cost of £15.15 million and the potential for this investment to produce savings equivalent to this cost in two years, it will consider allocating funds to the proposed A8000 scheme on a loan basis to enable it to proceed as quickly as possible.

Sarah Boyack: The Executive has no plans to fund the proposed upgrading of the A8000 on a "loan basis". The A8000 is a local road and responsibility for its upgrading rests with the City of Edinburgh Council.

Schools

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its view is on the proposed closure of St. Vigeans Primary School, Arbroath, by Angus Council.

Peter Peacock: At this stage, this possible closure is a matter for Angus Council and it would not be right for Ministers to express a view on a school closure proposal on which an authority is consulting.

Scottish Executive Staff

Mr John McAllion (Dundee East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are employed by each of its departments and by its agencies and other bodies receiving grants in aid from it, broken down by the responsible department, in each local authority area.

Mr Jack McConnell: This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Student Finance

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will treat sympathetically deficits in colleges’ accounts arising from the non-payment of fees by students.

Henry McLeish: This is not a matter for the Scottish Executive.

  The Scottish Further Education Funding Council has responsibility for monitoring the financial health of further education colleges. Accordingly, the circumstances surrounding any deficit are for the college and the funding council to consider.

Textile Industry

Allan Wilson (Cunninghame North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance it is providing to Scotland’s textile industry.

Henry McLeish: At the first meeting of the Scottish Textile Forum on 12 June, I announced a package of support for the textile sector, full details of which are in a Scottish Executive press release. In summary, the support package includes the launch of four Champions for the textile industry to help promote the industry; plans for developing labelling initiatives; help for exporters as a priority sector; commissioning consultancy advice; reorganising Scottish Enterprise responsibilities to ensure better co-ordination of network support; financial support for retraining of redundant textile workers; proposed revision of the Assisted Areas map to support areas hit by textile redundancies; support for improving the image of the textile sector; and ensuring that the views of sector on important issues are fully and forcefully represented to UK and EU Governments. The forum meetings, which I shall chair, will help the Scottish Executive develop further measures to support the sector. All these support measures will be in addition to those announced on 6 June by the Government on a UK basis, in response to the report by the Textile and Clothing Strategy Group, and to the wide range of support provided to companies on a non-sectoral basis by the Executive and its agencies.

Tourism

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to develop cultural tourism in Scotland.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: My colleague, the Deputy Minister for Culture and Sport, will shortly convene a group which will develop a new cultural tourism strategy.

Transport

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4391 by Sarah Boyack on 29 February 2000, whether it will provide a timescale for the publication of each of the reports, consultations and studies listed.

Sarah Boyack: I refer the member to my answer to question S1W-6664.

Water Charges

Mr John McAllion (Dundee East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Department of Social Security Ministers in relation to benefit adjustments to match the increases in water charges in Scotland.

Sarah Boyack: The Executive is in discussion with Whitehall Departments on a wide range of issues.

Working Groups

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all the task forces, working groups, review groups, action groups and similar committees established by the Minister for Rural Affairs and his deputy Minister since 6 May 1999 and when each group is expected to publish its report.

Ross Finnie: The information requested is as follows;

  


Group 


Report 
Timetable 




Review 
of Pelagic Management (Review Group) 


published 
in December 1999. 




Controls 
on Pelagic Landings (Working Group) 


due 
in summer 2000. 




Scottish 
Fishing Vessel Safety Scheme (Working Group) 


due 
in summer 2000. 




Quota 
Management Working Group 


due 
in summer 2000. 




Tripartite 
Working Group - on problems affecting both farmed and wild 
salmon. 


due 
in summer 2000. 




Aquaculture 
Health Group  


periodic 
reports - first in spring 2001. 




Red Tape 
Review: - Review of Regulatory Burdens: IACS and Inspections 
in Scotland 


reported 
January 2000. 




External 
Communications Panel 


standing 
panel (no fixed dates for reporting). 




A Scottish 
Sheep Study - by Andrew Dewar-Durie CBE 


due 
in August 2000. 




Crofters 
Commission Policy and Financial Management Review 


report 
published January 2000. 




The Highlands 
and Islands Rural Development Plan Team 


no 
reports planned. 




The Lowland 
Scotland Rural Development Regulation Plan Team 


no 
reports planned.